over restoration 2000

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This is how the basin looked as we began 2000.
The wharf walls are nearly up to full height. We still have a lot of work to do, concreting behind them.
The slipway walls, to the left of the site hut, are almost complete.
To the right of the site hut the gabions are being placed ready for filling with bricks. Behind the gabions the approach road to the slipway is being widened.

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For the first major weekend of the century, KESCRG, The Kent and East Sussex Canal Restoration Group, joined us. Here they are re-using hospital roof timbers to build a footbridge for Lock Cottage at Oxenhall.

A couple of months ago this area was a Victorian ward block! Now we are using it to store salvaged bricks and roof trusses for re-building the stone barn.

At the back of the site lies a section of canal which was never disturbed during the Victorian hospital building. The last few trees on the line of the canal have now been felled.

Matt puts the finishing touches to the copings on the slipway walls.

By the end of January the red bricks are completed on the wharf walls. Well, not quite.There is still a section of concrete to pour at either end.

Reject bricks are being used to fill the gabions

This stone barn was a remnant of the corn mill which stood on the site when the original canal was built. It was demolished...

...and stored for a while as an unpromising heap of rubble. We have now picked out and palleted the stone ready to rebuild the barn beside the new towpath.

With help from an awful lot of people, we have transformed the site office given to us by Joseph Rice Logistics into a smart "new" site hut.
The "colonial style verandah" was made from old pallets and a few spare posts.

Glorious March weather helped progress on the wharf walls:
- final preparations for concrete pouring
- precision pouring
- close up

- backfilling with "Blue"
- this backfilling is backbreaking
- backfilling round the corner and the short arm

The Keyway excavator made rapid progress widening and grading the route of the canal as it leaves the basin

The original lock-keeper in 1831 may not have had this magnolia in his garden but he certainly knew the yew tree that stands behind it

With a little help from our friends...
we moved the two shipping containers (one weighing more than 7 tons) around the basin to a new location beside the site hut

Since we started building the wharf walls the "far end of the short arm" has been a problem because, being the lowest point in the basin, it acted as a sump. At last "Blue" clears it of goo and concrete is successfully poured

Meanwhile the far end of the long arm was being extended further than originally planned, ending with a neat return

The Teritorial Army from Monmouth made a start breaking up the Victorian sewage plant - if their excavator is hard to pick out it's because it's camouflaged!

With clay packed behind them, the gabions are covered with top soil and trampled thoroughly.
A symbolic planting of our first tree.

The short arm lengthens!

The inland end of the site has now been cleared and profiled and the temporary dam is in place

Removing the concrete foundations of the Victorian sewage works has proved a time consuming task

Looking back from the sewage works towards the basin, the bed has been cleared

Setting the mooring rings in place - digging the holes in crushed brick is the hard part!

The towpath takes shape using wood chips for the surface

Blue bullnose bricks on the walls make all the difference

Completing the "Castle" - the bricks disguise the bund which can retain any diesel spills

Once Swan Hill had completed their sewage works in the base of the aqueduct, we were able to start the walls either side of the lock gates. Notice their shape sketched out on the ground.

Working on the lock wings

The pump, lent by Sterling Fluid Systems, is switched on...and the basin begins to fill

Later in the day all of the basin was covered with water

By next day water was almost up to the bricks on the wharf walls and laying the cobbles on the slipway became rather urgent!

And on the fourth day...
the basin was full!

A view from the new houses

With help from the Army and Hewden Plant Hire, we got our trip boat to the basin just in time for the Opening Weekend

On 29th September 2000, Over Basin was reopened by prunella Scales and Timothy West. They are seen here arriving in Chris Clark's 1937 Lanchester

They took a ride on the trip boat and the basin thronged with boats throughout the weekend

Our sales stand and display in the main marquee

John Wood's wonderful acers decorated the marquee but the Forest of Dean Morris were forced by the weather to perform indoors.

An organisation that provides small sailing boats for the disabled enjoyed demonstrations

The November floods threatened to bring the Severn and Leadon into the basin. Here is the road that leads down to the sluice gates!

The floodplain flooded. To the left of the central willow are the Leadon floodgates, almost completely submerged.

This view is from the dam at the end of the site. What appears to be the canal is in fact floodwater filling the unrestored stretch of canal.

In the foreground is the dam, in the distance is the flooded Leadon.